is a platformer for the Super Nintendo released in 1994. It's part of the
that has me seriously worried about my health for the next first hour. A couple of years ago, I played
as part of a contest and it has left me scarred for life. The number of times I died in that game is unholy. My only hope is that the heritage of Demon's Crest sounds a little more friendly, just check out the
.
I have a pretty weird history with this game, back in 1998 I bought 20 Super Nintendo Games from a guy at school for $35. I hadn't even heard of most of the games but it seemed like a no brainer, 20 new games for the price of one? I gave every game I bought a shot - most sucked. The crappy games included
. There were a few gems, such as
. In the middle of all these was Demon's Crest. Well, I always assumed it was in the suck pile, but I found out a few months ago that the game was actually worth about $25 today, so I decided to sell it. I had only played it twice, each time I couldn't get out of the opening area. I'm honestly curious if the same will happen again today.
So here's the first hour of Demon's Crest, the game's last hurrah before I mail it off to some guy who can actually appreciate this game.
(minutes are in bold)
00 - I select Start and the first hour of Demon's Crest begins. I almost immediately get control of the little devil guy. He's standing in what appears to be a large Roman coliseum. A large dragon appears from the left side of the screen and chases me right... I've run out of room!
01 - Wow, I've died already. Memories of the past are resurfacing... this is not good. As for the controls, B jumps, Y shoots fireballs, X is supposedly magic (though it doesn't do anything right now), and A is "Special," though all he does for this is waggle his butt at me.
03 - This time I try to float my way past him, but end up just getting crushed. Every time you die you have to watch the dragon walk out again... takes forever!
04 - I finally manage to shoot the dragon in the head a few times and he flashed, indicating in the classic way that he was being hurt. Only hit him twice though... this could take a while.
07 - I've escaped! Five fireballs to the forehead and he was down for the count and our demon was able to escape into a forest. Finally!
08 - Haha, I speak a little too soon as the dragon pokes its head out the door and screams at me a bit. Shooting him a few more times finally decapitates the monster. Time for the real game now, I suppose.
10 - This is a pretty typical platformer so far now, too bad he only has the long range fire-breathing attack. Though one of the cool things is that you can jump onto a wall and cling onto it indefinitely and then burst off of it.
12 - The game's second boss appears as I reach the end of the level. Actually, there was just a statue that I had to butt waggle to make it appear. Turns out butt waggling is actually some kind of tearing down action. The boss was a bird man with two attacks: it would throw three feathers at me, or charge me pretty quickly. After I got the pattern down he was easy, but oddly enough, near the end of the battle he reverted back into a statue, only to turn back into a monster a moment later. Weird.
14 - The next level stats off immediately and I pause it. A screen appears showing me that i have 23 G.P. and that I identify with fire (I am, after all, a demon). I also have one fire power and no crest powers, spells, potions, or talismans.
15 - I have to do some fancy jumping to get over some piranha plants, well, I would have to do some fancy jumping if our demon couldn't just float and fly Princess style in
Super Mario Bros. 2.
18 - Through the sheer combination of floating forever and wall jumping, platforming is a breeze in this game. Whether you're going sideways or vertically, I had no problem in the second level, I actually made it through without getting hit once. But now for the boss.
19 - He announceds himself as Arma, and that he's here to put a stop to my petty quest, whatever that may be (the guy never gave me the instruction booklet).
21 - Well, I died. Arma has similar attacks to the last boss, but can take a lot more hits and also liked to sit just outside my vertical jumping/shooting range.
22 - The game doesn't place me at the beginning of the level, but I still have a few minutes to make up.
24 - I was a lot more careless to begin my battle against Arma, but I turned it around and eventually beat him. I received the Crest of Earth. Wonder what that does? Oh, I can morph into "G. Gargoyle." What's a G. Gargoyle?
25 - WOAH! MODE 7 graphics to the rescue! I haven't seen these since
ActRaiser a few months back. I feel like I might begin building a city any time now.
26 - The game doesn't give me any kind of hint on where to go, so I land on a house, some skeleton guy tells me I need a vellum... okay, don't have that. The next shopkeeper informs me I need an urn to keep potions. Any hint on where to get said urn?
28 - Oooh, a world map. There's friendly Roman numerals telling me the order of levels I presume. Now, have I already played one or not?
31 - The next shop I find has a minigame, the A button actually headbutts, not butt waggle or tear down, headbutt. Anyways, you have to destroy a bunch of skulls with your headbutt, but I don't get it down until time almost runs out. I'm going to try again.
32 - I do a lot better that time, winning the minigame and collecting all my entry fees back plus a little more.
34 - Next I enter an entire demon city and talk to a few of the evil folks there. One of them tells the story of Firebrand, a demon who nearly destroyed the world. I think I might be Firebrand. There's also a door I can't get to at the moment... suspicious.
36 - I enter the first world, and it is definitely the level I already beat, now how do I get out of here gracefully? Start and Select doesn't work, not good.
39 - Just finished replaying the levels, they're a lot easier when you don't need to fight the bosses!
40 - For some reason, the second level on the map points at the village I was just in, what the heck? Guess I'll head to "III" instead.
41 - It's a forest level, definitely tougher than the first. The new enemies, an eye monster that looks like it is straight out of
Chrono Trigger and a giant furry catipillar move around pretty quickly for the stomping Firebrand.
45 - So Firebrand can't swim, but he also gets hurt by fire! Along with thorns and bats and legless knights, this level is getting tough. Thankfully though, if you die, you can retry from the area you're currently in, thank you game!
48 - Boss time! It's a fiery demon that reminds me of Cinder from
Killer Instinct. I can't hurt him in fire mode so I switch to G. Gargoyle (ground gargoyle?) and I start whooping down... until I'm killed.
50 - I don't know if the game is trying to go easy on me, but I just played the last stage before the boss again but without all the fire trapping me. That was a lot easier!
51 - Ugh, you can't float as ground gargoyle! Died again, though I did do a ton of damage.
53 - Not an easy guy, his lunge attack takes away two hearts when I only have seven. He's also got a lot of really obnoxious birds that fly faster than I can move...
56 - Ugh, a boss with two forms! Now his head is floating around. Why is it always the head?!
60 - All right, I've had enough. Ten some hits against his second form should be more than enough to kill him, whatever. After I die again I select End and the game gives me a 16 letter password. Thanks.
